Market structure and industry performance: the case of Kenya

The papsr has two goals. An attempt is made to relate the structural characteristics of industries in Kenya to the performance of industries using the 1963 Census of Industrial Production. Structure is measured by a concentration index, which incorporates the influence of foreign competition, while performance is measured by the difference between average price and average cost, as a percentage of average price. Secondly, the paper brings evidence to bear on the controversy over whether the relationship between performance and concentration is continuous and whether concentration alone partly explains performance or whether barriers to entry exert an independent influence on performance in addition to concentration

The determinants of and changes in the structure of wages and employment in the manufacturing sector of the Kenya economy, 1967-1972

Using data from the Kenya Ministry of Finance and Planning's Central Bureau of Statistics, the structure of employment and wages in 4-2 industries in the Kenya manufacturing sector is considered. This includes a description of the structure and an empirical test of several hypotheses which seek to explain the determinants of the existing structure. In addition, the interaction between changes in the wage structure and changes in employment are considered. The available evidence indicates considerable dispersion among industries in wages paid, especially for skilled employees. These differences in wages paid are explained rather successfully by the hypotheses tested, namely relative differences among industries in their respective abilities to pay wages above the supply price of labour, the extent and nature of skilled labour required and such institutional factors as industry differences in the proportion of the labour force employed in Nairobi and in Government enterprises. These measures were more effective in explaining the structure of wages for skilled employees than for the unskilled

The role of competitive forces in the determination of wage increases in less developed economies: the case of Kenya

The theoretical literature concerned with rural-urban migration in LDCs has almost always assumed that the real wage differential between these sectors is fixed by the institutionally determined modern sector urban money wage and the relatively constant average product of labour in agriculture. An equilibrium flow of migrants is then determined by the "expected" wage differential, defined as some function of the money wage differential and the urban employment rate. Little attention has been given to an empirical estimate of the role played by the rate of unemployment in the determination of modern sector wages in LDCs. The major hypothesis tested here is that competitive forces are at work and that increases in the supply of labour tend to dampen the other institutional forces that serve to increase wages in the modern sector. The model is tested with data for 34 districts of Kenya and the major hypothesis is rejected

An analysis of the variation in modern sector earnings among the districst and major urban centres in Kenya

The paper analyses a large body of unpublished data collected by the Annual Enumeration of Employees. Occupational and industrial wage differentials are examined at the national level and then the technique of standardization is employed to explain inter-district and inter-town average modern sector earnings differentials. These differences are attributed to the occupational and industrial "mixes" of the districts and town and to the "area effect" the extent to which similarly classified occupations and industries pay different wages in districts and town. The latter effect is taken as a measure of the extent to which labour markets are segmented and is found to be particularly important in modern sector district labour markets

Appellation of Origin Status and Economic Development: A Case Study of the Mezcal Industry

Mezcal is an alcoholic beverage produced only in selected regions of Mexico under appellation of origin status from the Word Intellectual Property Organization. While it has been produced in Mexico for many centuries, mezcal’s appellation of origin was only granted in 1995. Therefore efforts to produce and market it as a premium product have a relatively short history. This case study examines developments in the production and marketing of this unique product, and the activities of the marketing cooperative El Tecuán in Guerrero State in this process.mezcal, Mexico, appellation, marketing, cooperative, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Marketing,

The potential for income and employment generation in Kenya's urban informal sector: a proposed survey

This paper is concerned with a survey of informal sector enterprises that the authors propose to carry out in Nairobi this year. The emphasis is placed on the search for more information on the operation of the sector's enterprises, particularly their constraints on expansion, so that policies of help and encouragement can be formulated from a more informed data base